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CHAPTER I PAGE 

St. Paul's ..--.-. 5 

CHAPTER n 
Across the Channel - - - - - 12 

CHAPTER HI 
The Busy French - - - - - -2i 

CHAPTER IV 

LOUISBURG ---.,,-28 

CHAPTER V 
Peace 39 

CHAPTER VI 
Absence --------47 

CHAPTER VII 
War 55 

CHAPTER VIII 
Winter 62 

CHAPTER IX 
Quebec -----.--69 

CHAPTER X 
New Year's Eve - 77 

CHAPTER XI 
The Old Year Dies - - - - - 81 



STORY OF 

General Richard Montgomery 



BORN 1736 



DIED 1775 



CHAPTER I 

ST. PAULAS 




O 



N the busiest 
part of the 
busiest street hi the 
busiest and greatest 
city of this great 
country of o u rs, 
there stands a plain 
brown c h u r,c h — a 
proud and lonely 
relic of the good 
old days that are gone by. It stands there 
under the shadow of the towering structures of 
our busy times with nothing but its age to give 



6 STORY OF 

it dignity. There it may be seen, facing the 
thronging, surging thoroughfare, Hke a stranger 
in a strange land, for all its youthful friends and 
neighbors of the old town are gone these many 
years, and the quaint old houses that clustered 
close about it once upon a time, have long since 
fallen into ruin and decay. It is the old chapel 
of St. Paul in New York. 

Many a prayer went up to Heaven from that 
house of God in the dark days of the old war for 
freedom — prayers for the patriots who had gone 
forth with stout hearts to battle on many fields 
for the blessings that we now enjoy. Within 
that church the most august personage in all our 
history, worshipped humbly in his pew^. And 
there many a white face, with tear-dimmed eyes, 
bowed low while the trembling lips plead for 
strength to bear the loss of friends who slept in 
unknown graves, whose names the great world 
does not know, but whose memories were 
cherished in the hearts of those they loved and 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 7 

left ; of those who waited wistfully as the fearful 
iight went on, but who only heard in dreams the 
footsteps of return. 

Let us imagine that we are seated on an old 
bench in the quiet grave-yard hard by, among the 
leaning, moss-grown stones, with their quaint, 
old fashioned carvings indistinct from age, and 
while the surging multitudes hurry back and 
forth outside — buying and selling, making 
money and losing it, and gliding to and fro 
across the street between the passing cars — 
I will tell you of one who was laid to rest here 
many, many years ago. 

It is the story of a man who died before his 
work was done. But his work went on, and 
finally bore fruit, as all good work must do some 
time or other; and he is gratefully remembered 
now. 

In order to tell the life of General Richard 
Montgomery, I must take you back into the days 
when the thirteen colonies were still loyal to their 



STORY OF 



wmm 




Many a prayer went up to heaven from that house of God. 

Page 6. 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 9 

sovereign master, the British King, and when 
His Gracious Majesty was urging the good colo- 
nists to come forward hke obedient children and 
oust the wicked army of France from the western 
hemisphere. In those days England and France 
were always quarreling with each other. Some- 
times they induced other nations to help them 
and now and then they settled their disputes alone 
— but they were always wrangling and they made 
the world miserable with .their cruel wars. 

About the year 1745 there lived in Prussia a 
famous thief who is known in history as Frederick 
the Great. But you must know that he was a 
"royal" thief, and, as the time-honored-maxim as- 
sures us, "the King can do no wi-ong." This 
man, one fine day, committed an atrocious crime. 
He stole twelve thousand square miles of terri- 
tory from Austria without saying a word, and 
the Austrian queen was very angry, as she had a 
perfect right to be. But the enterprising Fred- 
erick did not care. He simply collected a great 



10 STORY OF 

army, and the fair Maria Teresa did the same 
thing, and the two countries started in to fight 
it out in real earnest. You must not expect me 
to tell you how France and England got them- 
selves mixed up in this quarrel, which was none 
of their business, for it is a long story, and even 
after it was told you would probably agree with 
me that there was no excuse at all. Many a 
peaceful, virtuous Englishman left his home, his 
wife and children whom he loved, and went off 
to help settle the quarrel between Prussia and 
Austria, and lost his life. 

Before very many years the whole of Europe 
had been pressed into this war. Every nation that 
had a grudge joined the fight and threw stones. 
Little the wicked Frederick thought when he 
stole the province of Silicia, what would come of 
his daring theft. The whole thing was like a row 
of dominoes, for one thing touched another which 
toppled over and loiocked down something else, 
and so on until there was ruin everywhere. 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY || 

France and England carried on a sort of 
branch fight in America, in which the colonists 
helped their royal mother, and in which France 
lost most of her nmnerous and treasured posses- 
sions in the western world. This branch quarrel 
— this side show of the main attraction — is known 
as the French and Indian War, and during it the 
Americans learned a few things which afterward 
came in handy when they decided to start a gov- 
ernment of their own. 




CHAPTER II, 



ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 




A 



MONG tlie 
stalwart 
Irishmen who came 
to the American col- 
onies to fight against 
the French Mont- 
calm and others of 
his band, was young 
Richard Montgom- 
ery, a colonel in the 
British Army. He 
was born in Dublin, Ireland, on the second of 
December, 1736, and spent his early years there, 
receiving his education at the Dublin College.* 

* Several accounts give Montgomery's birthplace as Raphoe in the 
north of Ireland, but his wife, who kept a journal of the events of 
his life, says that he was born in Dublin and I am inclined to take 
her word for it. 

12 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 13 

The inclination for military adventure must 
have run in the Montgomery family from a very 
early period, for our future hero traced his an- 
cestry back through a long line of daring progen- 
^itors until he reached the Count de Montgom- 
ery — not a very Irish name, to be sure — who 
jabbed out the eye of King Henry the Second, 
of France, with a sword while fencing, for which 
piece of carelessness His Royal Highness had 
him put to death as a salutory reminder to him 
to be more careful in the future. 

We do not find our young friend brandish- 
ing any implement of war as an omen of his fu- 
ture b^ v*^ until he was past seventeen years old, 
though his life, as a little boy, was not without 
exci ^ent in the Irish metropolis. Not far from 
where no lived the towering structure of St. 
Patrick's Cathedral with its many slender spires 
rose above the other roofs hard by and cast 
its gloomy shadow down upon the spacious 
graveyard, wisely encircled with a tall railing 



14 STORY OF 

to anticipate, no doubt, any effort of its ancient 
ghosts to make their way out unseen and wander 
freely about the old city. Often little Richard, 
as he played about the neighborhood of the mas- 
sive pile with his young friends could see an old 
man, with long white hair and with a queer, 
blank look in his glassy eyes, tottering about 
among the white tombs, and sometimes led 
along the street by a watchful attendant. He 
was not a very kind-looking old gentleman, and 
he frequently shook his aged fists at the boys 
who gathered about him as he passed along, or 
followed, in his wake. Frequently they saw him 
sitting within the railing, and on these occrsions 
he bore a queer resemblance to a caged hyena, 
especially when he laughed — so fierce i*nd 
ghastly was his mirthless grin. His lace did 
not blossom suddenly into a smile, as faces ought 
to do, but it seemed as if his soul must be located 
somewhere in the depths of him, and tliat he 
raised the laughter up at great effort, so 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 15 

that by the time it reached the surface, it had lost 
what joy fulness it had in the beginning and 
amounted to an ugly sneer. On one occasion 
young Richard and his friends set up a merry 
shout at the sour-looking old man, who forthwith 
turned about and called them up to him, but 
none of them would venture within his reach 
except young Montgomery. When he had the 
boy within easy hearing, he asked him what he 
had been born for, and if it would not have been 
better if he had not been born at all? "Sup- 
pose," said he, *'I were to cut you up and have 
you boiled, as ought to be done with all you 
urchins — do you suppose you would be tender 
eating?" This startling inquiry rather sur- 
prised our young hero, and the other boys, see- 
ing him step backward, came up and gathered 
about the old man, whose attendant was urging 
him to proceed on his walk. 

"Every one of you young urchins will grow to 
be a man, and you'll set to work to make the 



16 STORY OF 

world worse than it is now by lying and cheating 
and making believe to be patriotic- -bah!" 

"Ah, come on," said one of the boys, "it's 
only the crazy old Dean." 

"Crazy," said the old man ,"why, the whole 
lot of you are crazy — the whole world is crazy 
— I am what I am, and the world knows it and 
is ashamed to look me in the face," and he 
brandished his old arm quite wildly. The at- 
tendant now succeeded in pursuading him to con- 
tinue on his way, and the boys followed after 
at a respectable distance, and laughed at the de- 
mented old man as he proceeded on his stroll. 
Before long they became quite accustomed to the 
aged pedestrian, with his attendant, and not in- 
frequenty conversed with the old man, who 
seemed to be suspicious of everything and every- 
body, and to have a rather unfavorable view 
of mankind in general — particularly of children, 
whom he continually denounced for living and 
for other acts of wickedness common among 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 17 

boys. Yet when this old man died, not long 
after — died _ lonely and forlorn — deserted by a 
score of famous friends who once had flattered 
him with their compliments and their applause; 
deserted even by his own reason — wretched, 
miserable, despairing, and hateful, in the midst 
of cheerful Dublin; the whole city gathered 
about the great Cathedral to mourn his 
loss; to honor him who hated them and all 
humanity; who had gone down to his grave 
shaking his fist at the world; gathered there in 
the still hour of midnight, proud of the citizen 
that they could not love, to pay a last sad trib- 
ute to the man who left a precious treasure for 
the millions of little people that he loathed with 
all his cruel, icy heart — the immortal Dean of 
St. Patrick's — the author of Gulliver's Travels. 
When young Richard's play days were over, 
and his mind had been well stocked with an array 
of learning from the University of DubHn, it 
occurred to him that it would soon be necessary 



18 STORY OF 

for him to seek a means of livelihood, in which 
state of mind he turned a longing glance across 
the English channel. There, above all places, 
was a field where military ambitions would have 
encouragement and scope. In his dreams of 
fame and glory, he could see England across the 
water standing with her fist doubled up and with 
chips on both her shoulders. There was a chance 
of advancement for a young Irishman of war- 
like temperament. To be under the wing of 
England, in a military capacity, would be, to 
him, what working in a candy factory would 
be to a young lady susceptible to sweets. There 
would be a perpetual superabundance of exactly 
what he wanted. So young Richard JMont- 
gomery crossed over to the mother country, and 
made his way to London. But the mother 
country did not receive her son with the maternal 
aiFection which he had expected, and he drifted 
about in the vast metropolis and became exceed- 
ingly lonely and discouraged. 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 19 

It was at that time, however, that the British 
Ministry was getting ready to make a raid 
against the French possessions in America, and 
giving mihtary places to a number of young 
noblemen who w^re out of employment and 
getting into a variety of scrapes in fulfillment 
of the worthy old adage that Satan still some 
mischief finds for idle hands to do. So young 
Mr. Richard made application for appointment 
in one of the British regiments. But the super- 
fluity of idle young men was so great in good 
old England that the supply of applicants for 
service far exceeded the demand — a fact largely 
induced, no doubt, by the alluring mind's eye 
pictures of a trip abroad with governmental 
wine and porter, which rose up before the aris- 
tocratic young nobles, and by enticing visions 
of Canadian maidens, speaking English with a 
wicked little broken accent, and carrying their 
milk pails about in fair Acadia. 

Against such competition as this our hero 



20 STORY OF 

found it very difficult to make himself heard, 
for the British aristocracy had formed a sort of 
trust of the military service from which all un- 
influential and obscure young aspirants were 
very carefully debarred. In the face of these 
obstacles, and of many embarrassments and dis- 
couragements which we need not rehearse, he 
succeeded finally in obtaining an appointment 
in one of the Royal Regiments which were about 
to embark for Halifax, where they expected to 
muster a number of colonists into the service 
and then proceed against Nova Scotia, where the 
French were making ready to receive them in 
anything but a hospitable manner. This army 
from Great Britain was under command of 
Sir Jeffery Amhurst, who brought as his chief 
lieutenant one of the bravest soldiers who 
ever fought on the American continent — 
a skillful warrior and a good man, the gallant 
General Wolfe. These forces sailed in Admi- 
ral Boscowan's fleet to press the French and 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 21 

Indian war with the help of the thirteen colonies. 

You may well suppose that the colonists did 
not cast their fortunes into the war with a very 
good heart. For they had little reason to love the 
mother country or to wish her victory. Of course 
they drank the King's health in their taverns and 
saluted the British flag when it was raised, but 
they did not make much noise in doing these 
things, and in Boston, the rebel city, they did not 
do them at all. But for all that they forgot their 
injuries, they overlooked the oppression they had 
been made to suffer, and buckled on their swords 
and shouldered their guns and gave three cheers 
for General Braddock who had come sometime 
before to take full charge, and who intended to 
lead them into easy victory and wreathe himself 
in fame. 

If you are not tired sitting in this old church- 
yard and listening to this tale of many years ago, 
I will tell you a little about this cruel French 
and Indian War in which our hero fought as a 



22 STORY OF 

young colonel, and then we shall follow him into 
another war which shook the world with its 
mighty significance, and watch him climb tlie 
heights to die like the grand American soldier 
that he was, for the cause of independence and 
the rights of man. 

It is well for us to pause here and consider the 
important part which was played in the old war 
for independence by the great Irishmen of that 
day, for we must remember that our hero was 
Irish, and his noble and patriotic life reflects a 
never djong radiance on the land of the Sham- 
rock. But he was not the only contribution which 
the Isle of Erin made to the grand old cause, 
for while he raised his sword in defence of the 
oppressed and struggling colonists, Edmund 
Burke, another Irishman, raised his magic voice 
in Parliament against the actions of King George 
the III until the House of Commons rang with 
the thunder of liis denunciations. The good 
which these brave Irishmen did, each in his own 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 



23 



sphere, can never be estimated and their deeds 
and memories should be gratefully and tenderly 
regarded by the mighty nation which their genius 
helped to build up in this western world. 

While we are waiting for Admiral Boscowan's 
fleet, with our young hero, to arrive at Halifax, 
let us go back a Httle and follow the events 
which had been taking place in America in con- 
nection with this French and Indian War. 




CHAPTER III. 



THE BUSY FRENCH 




I 



T has been said 
that it is an ill 
^ wind which blows no 
one a iiy good, and it 
^■tr may be observed 
r^"* that it is a bad war 
indeed which does 
not turn out to be a 
blessing or a benefit 
to somebody. 
Hence this French and Indian war which car- 
ried sorrow and bloodshed in its wake, served 
its useful purpose in many little ways, for it gave 
employment to scores of young Englishmen who 
could not earn a living in any other way, and it 
put the American colonists through a course of 



24 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 25 

military training in the art of war which they 
were very thankful for and which the generous 
mother country, after a few years, was very sorry 
that she had ever let them have. Besides these 
beneficient influences growing out of the bloody 
war of the Prussian Frederick the French and In- 
dian conflict had the important efl*ect of estab- 
lishing a friendship between America and France 
which was destined to humble the British Empire 
in the dust ere many years should pass. For 
the thirteen colonies and France, through being 
bullied and downtrodden by Great Britain, final- 
ly came to regard each other with a fellow feel- 
ing, and a bond of sympathy sprang up between 
them in fulfilment of the well known saying that 
misery loves company. 

So you see that this celebrated war which pre- 
ceded the Revolution in our country was a sort 
of blessing in disguise to all concerned, except 
the hapless and astonished Indians, who were, of 
course, of no consideration one way or the other. 



26 STORY OF 

The unfathomable poHtical mysteries which 
found their outward expression in the barbarous 
war, were so profound and comphcated to the 
simple red men that they very sensibly declined 
any effort to unravel them and shrewdly cast 
their fortunes with the army which they 
thought would surely win. 

During the most exciting escapades of Fred- 
erick the Great and his invincible legions, Eng- 
land had been so busy with her European affairs 
that she had not been able to watch the encroach- 
ments of the wily French in Canada who had 
forthwith taken occasion to extend their Ameri- 
can possessions while Great Britain's back was 
turned. They had established a line of fortified 
trading posts which stretched from Canada to 
New Orleans. They had built forts along the 
shores of the great lakes, and, led by their adven- 
turous priests and missionaries, they had sailed 
boldly down the Mississippi River. They had 
penetrated the vast forests of the west and had 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY n 
planted the cross of the Jesuits on the shores of 
the Ohio and the Wabash. Encouraged by sue- 
cess and by the hundreds of converts they had 
made among the savages, they had grown bolder 
and more adventurous with each successive year 
until it began to look as if the whole western half 
of the North American continent was going to 
be developed and controlled by France. It was 
high time for the mother country to collect her 
colonial children about her and give them cannons 
and muskets and scientific instruction and with 
their aid to sally forth against the enterprising in- 
vaders from the north. 

But in the excitement of the moment and in her 
indignation at the presumptuous French, the 
good mother country had forgotten that if a bird 
does not want her brood of young to leave the par- 
ental nest, she should be exceedingly careful not 
to teach them to fly. 



CHAPTER IV 



LOUISBURG 




I 



N the year 1755, 
General Ed- 
ward Braddock ar- 
rived in Chesapeake 
Bay with a great 
flourish, and his 
bold military bear- 
ing, and his clank- 
ing sword and 
fine uniform, 
caused quite a thrill among the young ladies of 
the southern colonies who were so fortunate as to 
get a glimpse of the imposing warrior, from afar. 
The general was such a great man and knew so 
much about the art of war, that he only smiled 
when the colonial planters told him about the 
dark tactics of the savage allies which the army of 

28 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 29 




Among these men was young Montgomery. — Page 34. 



30 STORY OF 

France had shrewdly secured. The Indians who 
lurked about the fair province of Virginia did 
not worry him at all. He had come to deal a 
terrific blow to the wicked French who had dared 
to explore the Mississippi River and set up little 
colonies in the valley of the Ohio and all along 
the western frontier. Many a man who has come 
to our shores to astonish us with genius of one 
sort or another has gone home a failure, goodness 
knows — but General Braddock was such a failure 
that he never went home at all. It was in the 
army of this pompous leader that young George 
Washington fought as a volunteer and had his 
first experience of the terrors and dangers of 
war. 

But our stor)^ does not lie in the South where, 
as you know, General Braddock lost his life and 
most of his army by refusing to listen to a little 
good advice. His defeat and death and the 
utter humiliation of his fine troops were followed 
by many months of failure for the British in 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 31 

America until finally Great Britain sent a splen- 
did army to conquer Canada and with that great 
host came our young hero, Richard Montgomery, 
now twenty-one years of age. This large force 
was soon increased by Colonial regiments which 
had been waiting in New England, and it was 
resolved to reduce Louisburg, a French fortress, 
which had cost five milhon dollars to construct 
and which was supposed to be so strong that it was 
called the Gibraltar of America. 

Louisburg was situated out on the edge of 
Nova Scotia and its eastern boundary was the 
desolate ocean. To-day this ancient stronghold is a 
solitude of jagged, shapeless rock and fallen 
walls. Where is its might and all its proud 
glory now? Gone. The lonely waters which 
embrace it and whose impetuous breakers beat 
against the sandy shoals, and bursting into white 
foam, roll noiselessly up the pebbled beach near- 
by, were once the witness of a fearful conflict 
which was waged upon those shores. Yet Nature 



32 STORY OF 

in her more important duties seems to have for- 
gotten all about it for she allows, to-day, a herd 
of gentle sheep to graze about the place which 
was once the scene of bloodshed and of woe. 

In the early part of June 1758, the French 
commander, looking seaward from his military 
throne, beheld a veritable cloud of white, far oiF 
toward the horizon, bearing slowly in upon his 
stronghold. It was Admiral Boscowan's fleet 
from Halifax bringing, in its forty splendid 
vessels, fourteen thousand men, with the brave 
leaders. General Amhurst and General Wolfe 
and their accomplished and gallant young assist- 
a,nt, the hero of this tale. It was an ominous 
approach. Slowly and silently the mighty arm- 
ament advanced hke a great procession of 
shadowy ghosts, coming from some mysterious 
spirit realm (toward the doomed fortress. As the 
spectral objects, coming nearer, took the form of 
boats, the sound of music could be heard on the 
fitful summer breeze and a hundred glittering 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 33 

flags seen streaming over the British men of war. 
As they made their way into the bay and lowered 
their sails the grim array gave ominous portent 
of the day of reckoning that was at hand. 

Over the sides of these vessels a thousand sol- 
diers of the red-coat army swarmed into the little 
boats which had been lowered to receive tliem and 
bear them to the shore. Among these were Gen- 
eral Wolfe and young Montgomery. The waves 
beat high against the sides of the vessels, and 
sent their spray about the decks. The little boats 
below rocked and lurched in the furious sea. 
But the men poured down and crowded into them 
and set their faces toward the land. 

High on its jagged pedestal stood the old de- 
fence — a menace and a .threat — defiant in its 
sitrength — firm and glorious in its history and its 
fame. Again and again as the little crafts were 
tossed about in the angry surf, the British sol- 
diers tried to land but every time the breakers 
beat them off as if the very ocean were an 



34 STORY OF 

ally of the French and stationed there to guard 
the approaches to the garrison. A number of the 
little boats were broken or capsized. Finally a 
figure was seen leaping from one of the little 
transports into the waves. 

Swimming in until he had reached a point 
where he could stand upright in the water, Gen- 
eral Wolfe turned about and waving his sword 
above his head, called the soldiers to follow him. 
Inspired by the desperate resolution of their 
leader, they leaped into the rolling surf and reach- 
ing the shore pressed on with resistless force 
against the French batteries. Among these men 
was young Montgomery, filled with the patriotic 
enthusiasm which the bold and adventurous en- 
terprise inspired. Dripping wet, they made their 
way up the craggy approach to the stronghold 
and with rousing cheers, scaled the ramparts of 
felled trees, assulted and took the outer defences 
and pushed the enemy back into the startled 
town. The French commander was thunder- 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 35 

struck. Looking from his post within the city, it 
seemed as if great red streams were pouring over 
the sides of the vessels into the black water. Out 
they came streaming like endless chains of fire. 
They swarmed on every landing, and planted 
their cannons at every point. There was some re- 
sistance from the gallant Frenchmen but all in 
vain. Their batteries were silenced by the mur- 
derous and terrific thunder of the English guns. 
Their vessels in the harbor were set on fire. The 
red-coated devils wove an enormous spider web 
about them which held them fast in its meshes. 

And then the siege of Louisburg began — a 
siege which laid the proud old city, with its thick 
walled forts, in hopeless ruin. It was such a vic- 
tory as the army of the British Empire should 
never win again on the soil of the western world ; 
a victory gained with the aid of their colonists 
whom they had oppressed, and outraged, and in- 
sulted with their mi just and dishonest laws. It 
lasted fifty days and every day the town was 



36 STORY OF 

lurid with the fire of British cannon and the 
crackhng flames of burning vessels. The bom^ 
bardment was continuous and terrible. 

The sufferings of the resisting French were 
frightful, yet even in their distress they were 
faithful to their traditional chivalry. In the 
great tragedy there was a little comedy. After 
vigorously cannonading the legion quartered 
about their city, the French commander sent out 
word to General Amhurst that a skillful surgeon 
in the garrison would attend the wounded British 
if ithey cared to have him come outside! Truly 
indeed, it costs nothing to be polite. In the midst 
of deadly volleys, great baskets of wine and lus- 
cious fruit came out from the besieged city to 
General Amhurst and his aides, with the compli- 
ments of the French commander. I rather think 
that these two nations had been enemies so long 
— had fought so much — that ithe armies had come 
to love each other, in the pleasant and familiar 
relations of war. 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 37 

But finally when August came the valiant gar- 
rison, exhausted and hopeless, ceased its brave re- 
sistance, and surrendered to the army of Great 
Britain. The colony of Massachusetts had con- 
tributed a million dollars to this perilous enter- 
prise and all the other colonies had dropped their 
mites into the British collection plate which the 
royal governors had passed around among the 
good people. 

In ithis siege, our young hero, in his uniform 
of red, fought skillfully and well in his royal 
master's cause. He was admired and loved by 
all who knew^ him. There was about him the 
charm of perfect modesty. He played his pant 
in every bold assault and when the city fell, his 
name went back to England in the official re- 
ports, and his skill and bravery were applauded 
throughout the land. They did not call him a 
rebel then — but a brave young English soldier. 
Yet the seeds of freedom had even then taken 
root within his heart. He had seen the sturdy 



38 STORY OF 

colonists, farmers and small merchants, men who 
had little if anything to gain, fighting loyally in 
the ranks with their proud and disciplined broth- 
ers from the mother country, and he had come to 
admire, them. He had seen them held up to ridi- 
cule by the British troops, treated like poor rela- 
tions, sneered at and scorned. He had seen them 
furnish money which he knew the British govern- 
ment would not repa}^ Their queer and rusty 
firearms, their strange uniforms, had a sort of 
pathos for him. Slowly this young man was be- 
coming an American. He did not know it then, 
but the first unconscious step had been taken. 
He admired and respected the colonists and he 
sympathized with their wrongs. It came not as 
a sudden resolution but as the morning dawns — 
slowly, imperceptibly. And this admiration, this 
sympathy, this splendid human feeling, towering 
over the love of home and blind political al- 
legiance, raised him, in the fulness of time, to the 
sad dignity of a martyr. 



CHAPTER V 



PEACE 



DURING the 
struggle be- 
fore Louisburg 
young Montgom- 
ery was promoted 
from the rank of 
lieutenant to colonel 
m recognition of his 
courage. At that 
time there was great 
trouble down at Ticonderoga on the southern end 
of Lake Champlain. If ever a miHtary strong- 
hold had a stormy and adventurous career, Ti- 
conderoga was that fortress. There was always 
something going on about the old stone fort. 

In July, 1758, while the French and English 
were exchanging cannon balls and compliments 

39 




40 STORY OF 

at Louisburg, General Abercrombie, with young 
Lord William Howe and a large force of colo- 
nists and British regulars, sailed up the placid 
bosom of Lake George in little whale boats and 
canoes. To the stirring strains of martial music, 
and under streaming banners with their golden 
tassels glistening in the summer sun, the gorge- 
ous pageant made its way up the quiet wood- 
bound sheet of water which lies high among the 
rugged peaks of the Adirondacks. Young Lord 
Howe was the genius of this enterprise. He was 
a rare soldier — a soldier who laughed away the 
foolish military etiquette of British army life — 
who wore no costly epaullettes or jewelled sword 
— who lived on the plainest food and required all 
his officers to do the same. Without the arro- 
gance of Braddock or the pretensions of Clinton, 
who came later, he was a skillful soldier and a 
practical and honest man.* 

*Lord Howe was a younger brother of the two Lords of the 
same name who figured so prominently in the war for Inde- 
pendence. 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 41 




m^MM^ 



-r-> 1 n.a«».K»i<.^ 



Montgomery with his regiment was hastened there to give what 
help he could. — Page 44. 



42 STORY OF 

•Landing on the edge of the thick forest wliich 
stretched between the fortress and the shore, 
young Howe led an advance guard to surprise 
the stronghold where the brave Montcalm was 
quartered. It was here in these dim woods, thick 
with foliage, and rich with all ithe wealth and 
fragrance of summer, that this brave young lord 
was shot dead by a scouting party which had 
come forth from ithe menaced fort. 

As we look back upon that bloody drama and 
think of the three good men, Montcalm and 
Wolfe and Howe, all killed within a single year, 
we are minded to inquire, was the sacrifice of 
these brave souls worth while? Perhaps it was 
only chance that saved Montgomery. But I like 
to think that Providence spared him for the task 
which she had set for him to do. I like to think 
that if the cruel destinies of war had spared those 
two brave English soldiers, Wolfe and Howe, 
who laid down their lives in that northern cam- 
paign, they, like the hero we are following, would 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 43 

have cast their fortunes with the struggling Con- 
tinental Army to suffer with the patriot troops at 
Valley Forge and to stand with the beloved com- 
mander when the sun of victory broke out at 
Yorktown and the flag of a new and free people 
fioaited in the clear sky. And I like to fancy the 
impetuous and rash Montcalm, coming over with 
young Lafayette when the news of the Declara- 
tion of Independence had fired his restless soul. 
It is pleasant, to be sure, sitting in this quiet 
old-fashioned graveyard and dreaming of the 
things which we should like to have had come 
true, and I confess that the sad stillness of the 
place inclines me to these thoughts and reveries. 
Perhaps among these grey old tombs there is the 
unmarked and forgotten grave of some great 
genius whom the world has never known. Per- 
haps some splendid mind which would have en- 
riched the world could it but have lived a little 
longer, lies here in unconscious dust. Who shall 
say? You see I am growing more familiar with 



44 STORY OF 

you in these excursions along the path of hberty 
which we have been making with. the heroes of 
old days, with the men who wore the knicker- 
bocker and the buckled shoe. Probably it is be- 
cause we are coming to know each other better, 
though I believe the atmosphere of this old haunt 
where the ashes of our hero rest, has something 
to do with it, too. 

What I began to tell you was that General 
Abercrombie had such an unfortunate time of it 
at Ticonderoga that young Montgomery, with 
his regiment, was hastened there to give what 
help he could and to console the general in his de- 
feat and dilemma. The old fortress with its 
guns and its cannons and its stores was finally 
surrendered to the English with the help of our 
young lieutenant and the red-coats held it until 
Ethan Allen, the burly farmer, pursuaded them 
to give it up in the spring of 1775. And here 
Montgomery remained until the early part of 
1760 when he was ordered northward where the 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 45 

British army was preparing to appropriate Mon- 
treal. In due course the French governor, 
Vaudreuil, got together his belongings and 
marched out, and the English marched in and 
Canada became a British province, and the army 
of merry France departed with dejected spirits 
for home. 

I have not told you of the fierce and bloody 
struggle at Quebec in which Wolfe and Mont- 
calm fell, for young Montgomery did not take 
part in this, as it happened while he was quartered 
in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain. Be- 
sides, we shall visit these scenes a little later in 
the interests of another and grander cause. 

Before long Montgomery sailed with a detach- 
ment of the British forces to the West Indies 
where his Royal Majesty was anxious to carry 
on a little warfare with the Spaniards by way of 
practice, and put a few finishing touches on the 
unfortunate French who were scattered about 
the islands. Cuba was soon reduced, and for some 



46 STORY OF 

time ithe British officers were busy receiving sur- 
renders. It was beginning to look as if Britan- 
nia were not only going to rule the waves as she 
claims to do in her song, but all the land in the 
western hemisphere as well. 

And then peace came and reigned once more 
in the great continent of America — blessed peace, 
so rare and difficult in those days — blessed, happy 
peace, when men could follow useful callings and 
look about them and enjoy the melody of simple 
life — when they could listen to birds and child- 
ren, and work by day, and sit about their fire- 
sides at night, and think and dream, and toil and 
read, and be thankful, 




CHAPTER VI 



ABSENCE 



THE young 
colonel 



novv^ set sail for 
England to see his 
friends and visit his 
native home. His 
fame had gone be- 
fore him and he was 
received in London 
with great enthusi- 
asm by scores of admiring friends who had fol- 
lowed his exploits in the recent war. He was al- 
most as well known as if he had been a general. 
William Pitt, ithe illustrious commoner, and 
friend of the Americans, was ardent in his praise. 
No doubt the young soldier listened to the great 
statesman and thinker, when he spoke in Parlia- 

47 




48 STORY OF 

ment to deaf ears, and urged upon that stubborn 
body a policy of fairness to the colonies across 
(the sea. He mingled in the best society of the 
time and met the famous personages of the day. 
He met Sheridan, the great orator and playright ; 
Burke, the gifted Irishman who raised his stirring 
voice against the Stamp Act; Garrick, the man 
of many parts; Goldsmith, the strolling vagabond 
who enriched the world with his genius; and Dr. 
Johnson, whose famous dictionary had not words 
enough to express his hatred and contempt for 
the Continental rebels. He must have listened to 
the heated debates in Parliament in which colo- 
nial matters were discussed, and heard the proc- 
lamations and the royal mandates and insane ad- 
dresses of the King. And all these things, no 
doubt, strengthened and encouraged the feelings 
which had taken root within his heart. 

The British Empire was now, as you know, 
the proud possessor of all the thickly settled por- 
tion of the North American continent. She did 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 49 




And here ere many months had passed, he achieved his 
first great victory. — Page 5t. 



50 STORY OF 

not own the ocean or the sky. But America was 
hers, with the exception of the strag-ghng settle- 
ments on the lower western frontier, the tract of 
country known as Louisiana, for France hung on 
to ithis like grim death. A little island off the coast 
of Europe, scarcely large enough, as Dr. Frank- 
lin said, to keep one's feet dry, controlled and 
owned a vast expanse of rich and fertile country, 
a continent indeed, many times her size in every- 
thing but arrogance. Truly it seemed absurd. 
The men whose fathers with their families had 
fled from persecution and oppression in every 
land, and who had sought peace of mind in the 
mysterious continent of the west, were still tram- 
pled under foot by a royal tyrant, bled of all 
their resources and deprived of the very blessings 
which they had endured such suffering and hard- 
ship to secure. The French and Indian War was 
over. England, the proud mistress of the land 
and sea, the universal and victorious gladiator in 
the great arena, the terror of the world, had ad- 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 51 

ded hundreds upon hundreds of miles to her 
national domain. Nobody was any freer or any 
happier for the conflicts which had filled America 
and Europe with bloodshed and tears. A few 
more widows in the world, a few more orphans, 
and a few more graves, that was all. The loyal 
colonists had done their part, the fight was over, 
the swords and guns were laid away, the tumult 
and noise which had shocked the earth, died 
down, and all was quiet. 

As the British government did not intend to 
use the colonists again just tJien, a new code of 
oppressive acts and laws was instituted and rigor- 
ously apphed. 

I want to make it clear to you what the rela- 
tions between America and the mother country 
were just then, and what it meant for the thirteen 
colonies to take up arms. England was the rich- 
est and most formidable power in the world ; su- 
preme, commanding, resistless. Her army was 
enormous. Her wealth was boundless. Not a 



52 STORY OF 

nation on the continent off whose coast she held 
her undisputed sway could contend against her le- 
gions or dispute her glory. George the Third, 
the weakest and most foolish king that ever sat 
upon a throne, held the reins of the strongest 
government that existed among men. The peo- 
ple of (the thirteen colonies were ruled by this 
despot who was a mere name to them — whom 
few of them had ever seen. He had no idea of 
fairness nor had he any decent sentiments about 
the common rights of his provincial subjects. He 
tried to enslave tthem and they rose up and defied 
him. If I were to tell you now of all the meas- 
ures that he introduced to persecute the sturdy, 
honest men who felled the bleak New England 
forests and drove the barbarous red men from 
the frontiers, of all the cruel acts he forced his 
parliament to pass, the Stamp Act, the Naviga- 
tion Act, and many more, our story would be, 
indeed, a twice told tale. Yet we must keep in 
mind the circumstances which led to the events 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 53 

that we are following, for things and men become 
great in this world not so much from what they 
do as from the causes which impel them to their 
deeds. 

Young Montgomery remained in England 
for nine eventful years — years filled with 
pohtical debates and bitter controversies. He 
was there while the illustrious Franklin was 
in'London in the interests of colonial rights and 
privileges, pleading for a repeal of the outrage- 
ous Stamp Act, and pointing with keen wisdom 
and foresight to the terrific disasters which Eng- 
land was bringing down upon her own head. 
The young man saw where the stream of events 
was leading. He could see the clouds gathering 
for a storm which he believed would shake the 
world. He had heard the arguments of the great 
American sage who had come as an uninvited 
representative of the thirteen colonies. The wise 
man's prophecies, weighted with truth, impressed 
him. 



54 STORY OF 

In .the year 1772, Richard Montgomery, at 
the age of thirty-five, gave up his commission as 
an officer in the British army and set sail for the 
United Colonies of America where he had re- 
solved to make his home. And here, ere many 
months had passed, he achieved his first great vic- 
tory, for he laid siege to the heart of the fair 
young daughter of Judge Robert Livingston, 
who after a decidedly brief resistance agreed to 
articles of surrender and took up her abode with 
(the victorious usurper from abroad, at "Grass- 
mere," a quiet shady country seat in Dutchess 
County, New York, where, like Washington and 
Wayne and Marion and Allen and Putnam and 
all the rest of them, he devoted the peaceful, 
happy days to the gentle art of agriculture. 



CHAPTER VII 




W 



WAR 

E have had a 
ghmpse of 
colonial a if airs i n 
England and fol- 
lowed a little the 
causes which led our 
hero to seek a per- 
manent home in 
America. It is now 
time for us to turn 
our eyes to the events which were unfolding 
themselves in our country while the gallant Rich- 
ard was enjoying his honeymoon. For my part, 
I am very glad that he married a colonial maiden 
and I shudder when I think of the narrow escapes 
he must have had from Lady This or Lady That 
or from Lord Somebody or other's daughters dm-- 

58 



56 STORY OF 

ing those nine perilous years in fashionable and 
frivolous London. But he came through all these 
dangers quite safely, as you see, and now we have 
him settled down very cosily with a young lady 
who has no (title, to be sure, but who can courtesy 
in a manner to put your duchesses and countesses 
to shame, and who has very dainty ankles as you 
can see while she is plying the pedal of her spin- 
ning wheel, and as Mr. Richard Montgomery 
probably saw to his delight many and many a 
day, when he was trying to induce her to stop and 
listen. Her name was not Mercy nor Betsey nor 
Dorothy, as you might suppose from the preval- 
ency of those names in colonial novels, but Janet, 
and her father was a justice of the provincial 
court and afterwards a member of the Conti- 
nental Congress. So you see there is no doubt at 
all about her having been a full-fledged, out-and- 
out rebel. 

It w^as now ithe year 1775 and Richard Mont- 
gomery, much to his surprise, was chosen to rep- 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 57 




' The will of an oppressed people compelled to choose between 
liberty and slavery must be obeyed." — Page 61. 



58 STORY OF 

resent Dutchess County in the Provincial Con- 
gress, which was then about to meet in New York. 
In Boston, for two years past, the colonists had 
been carrying things with a high hand. You 
would not think to look at the Massachusetts cap- 
ital to-day that it was ever so unmanageable. 
The Boston Tea-Party, that famous event in New 
England history, had been carried off with great 
success. A whole cargo of tea which the Eng- 
lish government had tried to force upon the re- 
bellious colony of Massachusetts Bay with the 
intention of collecting an outrageous duty, had 
been cast into the ocean. This had led to other 
acts of oppression and tyranny and these to other 
acts of violence and resistance by the people of 
old New England. The other cities wondered 
how Boston dared to be so bold. King George 
the Third hated her and all her citizens, and they 
were very glad of it. John Hancock had raised 
his voice against His Royal Highness. Samuel 
Adams had denied colonial allegiance to the 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 59 

Crown. Things were moving rapidly. The King 
had stormed and fumed and ordered them ar- 
rested. The people of the good old town met in 
the South Church and in Fanueil Hall and called 
the King a tyrant. They tore his leaden statue 
from the public square and made the metal into 
bullets. They made an effigy of his pudgy form 
and put a rope around his royal neck and hung 
him amid sounding cheers. The British govern- 
ment ordered the port of the rebel city closed 
and transferred the cusitom officers to Salem. 
Salem would have nothing to do with them. An 
army of red-coats was encamped on Boston com- 
mon. Their leader, General Gage, demanded 
food and clothing for his troops. He might as 
well have demanded the sun and stars, for all 
he got. The British soldiers tore down the "Lib- 
erty Tree," the emblem of colonial rights. The 
people raised it up again. A detachment from 
the red-coat army moved toward Lexington to 
sieze the military stores, the meagre savings, 



60 ' STORY OF 

which the honest farmers had laid up against an 
hour of need. And then rang out the shot whose 
echo lasited seven bloody years, and the grandest 
and most righteous war that ever has been waged 
in all the history of this world, was on at last. 

As soon a^ the meaning of these events was 
realized, and it became apparent that war was 
actually being carried on, the Continental Con- 
gress appointed the commander-in-chief, and 
with him four major generals and eight briga- 
diers, and among these latter was chosen Richard 
Montgomery ; for his bravery and skill were well 
remembered and his sympathy with Colonial in- 
dependence widely known. Without hesitation 
he accepted the commission as an honor, bade 
farewell to his sweet young wife, and laying aside 
the duties of his calling and the pleasant life of 
his beautiful home, he came forth to battle for the 
people whom he had come among, and in whose 
rights and virtues he so fervently believed. As 
the patriot was about to leave all that was dear to 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 61 

him to join the army which v. as gathering at 

Cambridge, he said: 

"The will of an oppressed people, compelled 
to choose between liberty and slavery, must be 
obeyed." 

And he did obey that will — obeyed it through 
blast and tempest, as we shall see, and with a smile 
upon his lips he paid the cost. 




CHAPTER VIII 




w 



WINTER 

HEN the 

thirteen 
colonies drew the 
sword against 
Great Britain, their 
provisions consisted 
of seventeen thous- 
and pounds of salt 
fish and their imple- 
ments of war were 
limited to a few old fashioned rifles and twelve 
cannons. With these they undertook to combat 
the British Empire. 

It would be pleasant indeed to linger over the 
stirring events which followed close upon the skir- 
mishes at Lexington and Concord, to review the 
siege of Boston when George Washington made 

62 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 63 

a mouse-trap of .the rebel city, and to glance at 
the battle of Bunker Hill, but our stoiy does not 
lie in old New England, but in the far north 
where we must journey once again, not with our 
red-coat brothers but with that grand detach- 
ment from the Continental forces which was 
called "the Army of the North." 

You will remember that Canada had become a 
British province and the colonial authorities 
were uncertain as to the stand which she would 
take in the impending conflict. Dr. Franklin 
thought that the inhabitants, many of them 
French civiHans, might be induced to take up 
arms in the cause of Independence if they were 
properly approached. Many indeed, believed that 
Canada was disposed to be friendly. But what- 
ever the probabilities were, one thing was certain ; 
if she were not a friend she must be an enemy, 
and she would have to take up arms on one side 
or the other. Ethan Allen had taken the forts 
at Lake Qiamplain and sent down glowing ac- 



64 STORY OF 

counts of the ease with which the province could 
be taken. He seemed to think that if he went 
across the Canadian border and demanded the 
surrender of the cities there, the authorities would 
instantly submit with as much alacrity as young 
Captain Delaplace had displayed in handing Ti- 
conderoga over to the burly farmer before break- 
fast one fine morning, a little while before. 
Besides the famous Green Mountain Boys, there 
were others who believed that Canada, if she 
would not listen to reason, might perhaps at least 
listen to rifle balls and cannons, so it was decided 
to fit out a part of the new army for a campaign 
in the Far North. This Army of the North con- 
sisted of four thousand men under the famous 
General Schuyler, with Brigadier General Rich- 
ard Montgomery as second in command. 

The scene now changes and we are once again 
at old Ticonderoga. General Schuyler is here 
to look about him and plan the campaign. A lit- 
tle above us is Crown Point, another old French 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 65 

foritress, and there General Montgomery is 
waiting with the regiments under his command. 
Just above these two old strongholds the placid 
Lake Champlain stretches northward, and if you 
were to sail straight up through the centre of it, 
you would sail into the old St. John's or Sorel 
River which starts out of the upper end of the 
lake like the thin curling fang of a serpent and 
rushes northward into the great St. Lawrence 
which is on its crooked journey from Lake On- 
tario to the sea. When you sail into the St. Law- 
rence at the point I mention, you will find the 
river wide indeed. If you bend your course 
northeast you will soon be at Quebec but if you 
sail southwest a little way you will arrive at 
Montreal. 

Before long the two divisions under Generals 
Schuyler and Montgomery met at the head of 
Lake Champlain where General Schuyler was 
shortly taken ill, and the full command of the 
Army of the North and the responsibility for its 



66 STORY OF 

perilous enterprise fell upon Montgomeiy, who 
became a major general. His object was to press 
on and enter Montreal. In October he gathered 
his forces at Chambley, on their way ito the great 
Canadian city, and attacked the British garrison 
which was stationed there. Within a week the 
commander of the post surrendered and General 
Montgomery (then distributed his forces about 
St. Johns not far away and proceeded to besiege 
that post. In November the British garrison 
here surrendered to the Americans with five 
hundred men, among whom was young Major 
Andre who was hung as a spy on the Hudson 
highlands six years later. To this besieged gar- 
rison. General Montgomery granted the most lib- 
eral terms of surrender. They were allowed to 
keep all articles which could be of any use to 
them except their heavy implements of war. 

It was now the middle of November and the 
campaign in the north had been successful as far 
as it had gone^ But the fearful northern winter 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 67 

was coming on apace. Famine and sickness, 
those two ghastly spectres, were stalking silently 
behind them and grinning at their little victories. 
The army of General Montgomery became re- 
duced ito fifteen hundred men. Their powder 
and cartridges were almost exhausted, their cloth- 
ing was in rags, their provisions were well nigh 
gone. The Army of the North was facing starva- 
tion. Ominously the white snow began to fall 
upon the land which they had come to capture, 
until the vast domain had wrapped itself in white 
and not a road or beaten path in all the country 
roundabout them could be seen. The path ito lib- 
erty w^as blotted out by nature. They were in 
the midst of a wilderness, suffering from the cold. 
Then a visitor came among them, a ghastly, 
dreadful visitor, tlie smallpox. 

Across the great river, thick with ice, stood 
Montreal, her many spires wrapped in their 
winding robes of snow. The forlorn army 
pressed on through the silent dreaiy forests, un- 



68 STORY OF 

til when the month was nearly gone, the troops 
had reached the banks of the great St. Lawrence, 
and could see the city standing on its white ped- 
estal across the stream. They crossed the river, 
weak and exhausted, and General Montgomery 
addressed a kindly proclamation to the citizens, 
the royal governor having fled at their approach. 
The population, at heart friendly to the Ameri- 
can cause, surrendered instantly to the Conti- 
nental forces, and General Montgomery led his 
starving legion through the gates of the old city. 

The old year was getting ready to depart. 
Echoes from the roaring cataracts of the north- 
em rivers sounded in the dark forests giving a 
muffled hollow distant roar. The faUing of huge 
blocks of ice could be heard. The country was 
enveloped in a dull, bitter cold. Weird, uncanny 
mutterings of torrents, as the merciless and ter- 
rific gale dashed them in gusts from their scarred 
and jagged cliff's, could be heard in the town. 

It was close upon the end of November, 1775. 



CHAPTER IX 




w 



QUEBEC 

HILE the 

forces un- 
der General Mont- 
gomery were pre- 
paring to journey- 
northward from the 
neighborhood of 
Lake Champlain, 
another army under 
Colonel Benedict 
Arnold started from the mouth of the Kennebec 
river to make its way up through the woods of 
Maine and reinforce the troops which we have 
just left in possession of Montreal. With these 
regiments came Captain Morgan, with his fam- 
ous riflemen in their suits of Lincoln green, and 
young Aaron Burr, a boy of nineteen who had 

69 



70 STORY OF 

joined the army as a volunteer. The sufferings 
of this detachment, as it made its way through 
tangled underbrush and dense forests has no par- 
allel in history. Sometimes they groped along 
in boats upon the Kennebec, and sometimes they 
waded through swamps and picked their way 
through briary, tangled growth, carrying their 
boats upon their shoulders. As these regiments 
of sturdy patriots advanced they left a trail of 
dead behind them. Many left the army to carry 
sick and dying soldiers back along the road which 
they had traversed. The troops were soon re- 
duced to half their number. Still undaunted, 
they pressed onward dripping from the bogs and 
swamps which they had sunken into and shiver- 
ing with the cold. Every hour of those thirty 
fearful days, men sank down dying by the way- 
side — or helpless from fatigue. Their sufferings 
were ghastly — awful. At last on the eighth of 
November this little army, reduced to five hun- 
dred worn and starving men, stood at Point Levi, 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 71 

on the eastern bank of the St. Lawrence river and 
gazed across at the great walled city of Quebec, 
standing high upon its mighty jagged cliffs, 
crowning ithe towering summit of Cape Diamond 
with its slender steeples — supreme on its great 
throne, and looking down upon the country about 
its feet, proud in its security and arrogant in its 
pride. Below it, under the very shadow of the 
high cliffs on which it stood, on a narrow beach 
between it and the shore, nestled the lower town 
with its steep winding stairways leading to (the 
city far above. 

After notifying Montgomery at Montreal of 
his arrival, Arnold, with his forlorn band, crossed 
the stream and picked his way along the shore 
until he had reached the rear of the town, when 
he led his hapless followers up the Heights of 
Abraham, a vast plateau behind the town, and 
lining up these weaiy helpless patriots in battle 
array, demanded the immediate surrender of the 
city. The flag he sent within the gates was fired 



11 



STORY OF 







Still undaunted they pressed onward dripping from the ^ogs and 
swamps which they had sunken into and shivering with the cold. 

Page 70. 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 73 

upon. He could not return the fire, even if he had 
been given the chance, for the best of all good 
reasons — his soldiers had no cartridges or powder. 
Again he sent within demanding the instant sur- 
render of the town. But the Lion only laughed at 
the Mouse. The bold young colonel challenged 
the garrison to come out and fight, though in 
truth the patriots had nothing to fight with but 
their fists. The garrison refused. The governor 
of the city would neither surrender nor give bat- 
tle. It would be impossible to scale the walls. 
Those outside could not get in and those within 
would not come out. And why should they sur- 
render? The British garrison had a goodly stock 
of military stores within their stronghold which 
they did not intend to waste. The patinots who 
waited on the windy plains without had nothing 
but their nerve, which they were willing to spend 
freely. Finally the little band, unable longer to 
endured the cold, retreated to a more sheltered 
spot not far away, to await the arrival of their 



74 STORY OF 

general and his troops, who were on their way 
from Montreal. 

All this time the winter was becoming more 
merciless and terrible. Snow was everywhere. 
It covered the Plains of Abraham and capped the 
roofs of the clustering houses in the city. It hid 
the roads and spread itself like a vasit un wrinkled 
coverlet across the ice-bound river. It was the 
first of December and the old year was going out 
in a rage. It fumed and blustered and beat 
about and made a fearful uproar. Seventeen 
seventy-five was dying hard. The wind 
came roaring in through the wild, naked 
forests, cracking off the brittle limbs as 
it rushed by and scattering them about 
in its blind wrath. It tore ithe crystal icicles from 
where they hung and dashed them here and there, 
and then rushed off again to meet with other 
w inds that were shrieking about on the dark and 
lonely ocean. 

Through the blinding, beating hurricane, 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 75 

through cold and storm, dull and freezing and 
relentless — three hundred men, the remnants of 
the army that had left Lake Champlain in Sep- 
tember, were making their way along the St. 
Lawrence River from Montreal to reinforce 
young Colonel Arnold and his ill-starred band. 




70 




A man rushed into the military quarter of the city,— Page 78. 



CHAPTER X 

NEW year's eve 




T 



HE season of 
good cheer 
was now rushing in 
apace and all the 
cold without could 
not destroy the mer- 
riment within the 
city. In merry 
England they were 
clinking their 
glasses and wishing each other health and pros- 
perity, and the loyal residents of old Quebec were 
following their example. Many a rousing song 
and jolly toast echoed through the halls of the 
old mansions in .the town, as the guest they were 
all waiting for, the sturdy '76, came jogging 
over the northern hills to keep his promise and 

77 



78 STORY OF 

be there at twelve o'clock. If they had known 
that he carried the Declaration of Independence 
under his arm they would not have made such 
preparations in his honor. 

In the midst of these plans for fellowship and 
good cheer, while the ale was brewing and when 
the town was quite in order to welcome the com- 
ing and speed the parting guest, a man rushed 
into the military quarter of the city, and sank 
down breathless. When he had recovered him- 
self, he told a tale that startled them. He was a 
Canadian who had joined and then deserted the 
little force of seven hundred patriots who were 
quartered near the city. He told the commander 
that it was the intention of the Continental 
troops to skirt the shore and assault the lower 
town, down at the foot of the cliff, and then to 
climb the steep ascent and surprise the city. He 
announced that the patriots were only waiting 
for a more than usually dark and blustering 
night when their approach might be more secret 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 79 

and more guarded. The British governor list- 
ened with attention, heard the story out, and then 
decided on his course. 

On a steep road leading from the lower to the 
upper town, a crooked stone ascent, with rocky 
stairways here and there, stood a wooden block 
house which contained a stock of military stores. 
It was an old and dingy house of boards, of little 
value and in bad repair. A few yards down the 
path, in the direction of the lower town, was a 
barricade of fallen trees. Down the steep road 
from the lofty garrison above came a little com- 
pany of British regulars. They brought with 
them two large field pieces, some provisions, and 
some mechanics' tools. They entered the Httle 
block-house and set to work boring out two open- 
ings on the side of the structure facing the ap- 
proach. When this was done they placed the 
cannons with their muzzles just inside the holes 
and loaded them with grape-shot. Then they 
settled down to play at cards. 



80 STORY OF 

The last morning of the old year dawned dull 
and cold. As the day progressed the wind rose 
until it blew a violent gale. It beat against the 
snow and sent it up in blinding sprays. It 
caught the new snow that was falling and gath- 
ered it into great sheets and drove them before 
it in fearful gusts. One could not see about him 
for the driving tempest. The howHng and moan- 
ing of the hurricane were deafening. The old 
year had indeed lost its temper. 




CHAPTER XI 



THE OLD YEAR DIES 




I 



N the midst of 
this biting 
storm, all that re- 
mained of the Army 
of the North crept 
along the narrow 
ledge between the 
towering precipice 
and the shore and 
entered the ground 
floor of the city of Quebec. They were armed 
with scaling ladders. As they neared the en- 
trance of the lower town they paused and divided 
into two columns. One of these was to attack 
the lower town while the other made its way up 
toward the city which stood high above them 
wrapped in its encircling walls. This last divi- 

81 



82 STORY OF 

sion was led by General Montgomery. The men 
and officers had pleaded with him not to com- 
mand in person, but he had insisted. 

Falling into the narrow road which womid up 
<the rugged chff , the column made its way along 
the slippery, treacherous pass, obstructed by the 
gathering drifts and blocks of ice. The path 
wound up the steep incline and here and there a 
barricade of brushwork had been built across. 
The Army of the North pressed on and up. They 
reached a barricade and tore it down and hurled 
the brittle frozen brushwork from the path. 
Another barricade was reached and conquered. 
And the troops pressed on. Not a sound was to 
be heard but the dismal calling of the tireless 
wind, which was moaning out its requiem for the 
dying year. They swung their numbed and 
freezing hands back and forth and still pressed 
on, silently. Another barricade was reached and 
passed. Just above them was the block house — 
the first sign of the town which they were push- 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 83 

ing on to enter. Here the general paused and 
drew his sword and turning, shouted lustily; 

"Men of New York, you will not fail to follow 
where your general leads. Press on, my brave 
men, and Quebec is ours !" 

A sharp report broke out upon the air. A sud- 
den burst of red flame flickered through the block- 
house. A Httle cloud of smoke rose in the air 
and was carried off by the furious wind; and all 
was silent. General Montgomery, his two aides, 
and eleven of the men, lay dead in the thick snow. 

When the governor of Quebec learned that 
General Montgomery had led his troops in per- 
son, he would not believe it until the rumor was 
confirmed. And then he did a strange thing. 
He had the body of the rebel general borne within 
the gates of the city, and the British soldiers mar- 
velled much when they were told that they must 
lower their colors and march forth to bury the 
departed hero with the honors of war. And all 
the city spoke his name quietly and reverently. 



84 STORY OF 

and so the soldier of America was honorably and 
tenderly buried in the enemy's land — the land 
that he had come to conquer. 

The New Year came, according to its promise, 
bleak and cold. It brought with it suffering for 
the straggling remnant of the Army of ithe North 
— failure, humiliation, and despair. It brought 
with it a smiling, daring countenance from Phil- 
adelphia, the gallant Wayne, but the spirit of 
the northern army was broken and its hope was 
gone. 

Days and months went by and the good fight 
went bravely on. When the curtain rose upon the 
second scene it showed the lower shores of the 
beautiful Hudson River — ^the pleasant country 
of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. 
Ajid when the curtain rose again, and this time 
on the final scene, it was in the sunny south 
amid the songs of birds, and blossom laden trees, 
and thick, tall waving grass. 

In all these places men fought (the good fight — 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 85 

fought it as the streams ran red with blood — 
fought it amid the untold sufferings and hard- 
ships which make the history of the grand old 
war. But on the heights — within the great 
walled city of the North, the hero slept in peace. 
Others were carrying on the work which he had 
left undone, so that his spirit might have said, as 
Whittier sung years after. 

^'Others shall sing the song 
Others shall right the wrong 
Finish what I begin 
And all I fail of win," 

In the year 1818, the ashes of the patriot were 
conveyed to the city of New York and placed 
beneath a stone panel which had already been 
erected in front of this old church in whose quiet 
graveyard I have been telling you this story of 
the North. 

I am afraid that I have been rather long in 
telling it too, for the people on the thoroughfare 
outside seem to be travelling all in one di- 



86 STORY OF 

rection now, and everyone seems armed with 
packages and newspapers, and to be in a great 
hurry. How they hasten by! elbowing their 
way and pushing each other out among the rat- 
tling wagons and the noisy cars. They have not 
time to look in here. I suppose that many of 
them are going over the great bridge a litte way 
above us to crowd still more and rush and run 
as if there were no peace in the great world. 
I wonder what your parents will say to me for 
keeping you down under these shady trees so 
long? And you, young lady, see those green 
spots on your white gown? I told you not to sit 
down on the grass. Look at the sun up there — 
how dull and lazy he looks ; he seems to have lost 
all his enthusiasm, and to be trying to get down 
behind the old church without our seeing him. 
Probably he is tired out. Suppose we walk about 
the old place for a few minutes until the crowd 
outside is not so large. What a relief it is to 
stand up after idling on this bench all the after- 



GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 87 

noon. How gloomy and somber it is within 
the church, and what a noise our feet make on the 
stone floor. I wonder if the place is filled with 
colonial ghosts at night when the city hereabouts 
is all deserted. I should not be at all surprised 
if grouchy old Peter Stuyvesant haunted tlie 
place with his wooden leg — or some other dread- 
ful old Dutch burger. The square pew down 
on the side, with the American eagle over it, is 
where George Washington used to sit Sunday 
after Sunday and listen to the preacher up in 
that queer little turret. Let us sit down a minute 
in the great man's pew. How solemn the scene 
about us looks as the light fades away. We must 
hasten out again or the night will overtake us— 
and there is one thing more for you to see before 
the sexton closes the big iron gates. How still 
the air is— everything seems gray. Those old 
tomb stones are bending over as if they were 
sleepy, and tired of their long vigils. Come 
around toward the thoroughfare where the mul- 



88 

titudes are passing. They are thinning out now. 
See there — that monument against the brown 
wall facing the street. Beneath that tribute the 
ashes of our hero He. Let us go a little closer 
so that we may read it, and then we must go 
forth again into the great city and hasten home. 



This monument is erected by the order of CONGRESS 

aSth January, 1776, to transmit to Posterity a grateful remembrance 

of the patriotic conduct, enterprise and perseverance 

of Major-General RICHARD MONTGOMERY 

who after a series of successes amidst the most discouraging 

Difficulties Fell in the attack on 

QUEBEC, 31st December, 1775. Aged 37 years 



Tke State of New York 

caused the remains of 

Major-General RICHARD MONTGOMERY 

To be conveyed from Quebec 

And deposited beneath this monument 

The 8th day of July, 1818 



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